Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-09-03

g Aoehicaleo. Temples Built by Un a known Hands, in the Morning of Mexi- , co.'s History.
 MEXICO, August 18th, 1887. About sIx miles from Cuernavacs. peal
 the Indian village Acnpancingc, is | famous hacienda which still belongs to [ Ienisl descendants of the Cortss family known ID the last century as the Dukes de Monteisone. It is one of the finest sugeT plantations in all Meuco, it's aver age yield being 750,000 pounds per an num-besites coffee, tobacco, bananas pine apples and other products. The name of the hacIenda IS Atlaca- uulco. aud like many others m this country. IS little kingdom within it. sell, quite independent of the rest of ibe world. Its fort-like walls have withstood unnunbered raids by robbers and Teyolu.Ionists, and within them are buildings and people enough to form 6 respectable village. Here men. peons and horses are reckoned by the hun dreds. and the owner thereof is absolute monarch of bll ke surveys.
 Besides fields of sugar cane, stretch lns Tar Rs the eye can reach, aze ccffse groves wi;h
 
 SO the overseer tells us, putting forth white blossoms, green frui. and npened berries sll st once; while beyond. stretch ing away to the distant hills, are plsiDs where uucountsd herds of cattle and horses rsuge st will. Even the far od hills with their loads of precious metsl, ana the miDing namlets clustered among them belong to the same estate; besides | rr.aH nN trodden canons where deer. qnAil, pu- mas and other game make happy hunt Ing grounds.
 There IS great casa for boiling the sugar, whose furnaces blaze night and day from year to year; an immense adobe house containing machinery fer extracting the juice of the cane: refining rooms, drying sheds, etc. etc.-all on the most generous scale. Then there IS another rig mill for separating coffee | begns from the chHff; shsds In which coffee IS dried and assorted; distIllery where sgusrdienis (ruD) is made from the refuse of tho sugar mills; besides enormous graDeTies, barns, stsOles. store houses and bakeries; email church belonging 70 the estate, s "store" fer supplying the peoBs with every neoes- sity, from bacon to prayer books; ma chine shop aud smithy, where farm i'm | plemeIts are repaired and horses Ehod- ID short, every requisite for sustaining several hundred people with no assist- snce from the outside world. Truly, tO be a Me1ican hBciendRdo on this mag nificeot plan Is better than to be an Old | World prince!
 Sugar was unknown to the ancient Aztecs, who made syrup from wild honey and the juice of the omnipresept century-piant or mBguey. Sugar cane was first brought by the SpaDiards tJ ! the Canary Islands, then 10 Ssnto Do mnso, thence to Cubs, and naturally soon afterwards to Mexico. Thoug1 Cortes' dtsceadants clalm that the en- tire credit belongs to their iilustrious ancestor, It is fac. that the first sugar canes were planted in this country il I52J, hy one Senor Don Pedro de Alien sa. The first sugar mills built by the Spsnisrds were worked by hydrsulic wheels. not, as now. by horses and mules. and the first cylinders were constructed by Gonzslo de Yeloss.
 Baron Humboldt. who examined COATES WILL, tells us that the cOnquerors left several fourishIng sugar plantations near Gu yOacsn. ID the valley of Mexico, where now lowing. 1t is supposed, to the cut siDR down of the fOrests) I. IS too cold for any cane to grow.
 Most of our three days stay at Alta camulco was spent out of doors. ana every mesl-except the early chocolate served Tn bed-wss eaten under the lines and pOmegrsnites of the court yard, or ID the adjacent garden. The latter wRs the most beautiful l havo seen iu this land Of beautiful gardens It's lemons. oranges, olives, Rguece.rg and other tropical fruits blend their l green branches and odorOus blossoms 1 into natural arches. TO thick that even I the soutkern sun cannot penetrate tten l by q single golden arrow. Springs Of l clear wnter are directed all over thg I plantation, for irrIgRtIng purposes, srC l in the garden their conrseE are broken | by artificial cascades and water falls, I fringed by ferns and li.res, the pathT I upon either side bordered by paneief 4 and hedges of rose-trees. Ruby red | cardinGls, golden candeleras, paroquets | and other bright-vinged birds are for ] ever pluming themselves in the cool l shadows, but there IS a peculiarly of | these gnrgeously-fes:bered tribes of the 1 tropics thu, none Of them can sing Es well ss the Plainest brown bird of the | North.
 Atlscamulco has another attraction very rare ID the cactus cOunEry-thGs Oi rich, sof. grass. Rejecting the custom ary hsmmocks, we stretched ourselves upon 1t snd Iuxuriated in the warm GIT heavy with perfumes, and wished ths; life might lest forever in such gD Eden.
 About twelve miles from this hacienda lie the wonderful but little-known
 RUIys OF xoCHICALRo,
 which noue who come this way would fail to see, The best route by which to reach them follows tine celebrated "Acapuico trail" to the Indian hamlet called Xochitl (The Flower) or the ad iscent haciendo of the same name, where n guide and horses may be obtained. For more than three hundred years the highway between that southern port Bnd Mexico city was constantly trOdden by countless bur Js laden with merchandise. But some new routes have been opened across the continent; picturesque Aca- uuIco, which m olden times was ! busy maritime city, hes fallen into compaTH- tive disuse. To it came, and from II sailed, all these historic galleons which performed theIr portion of the voyage between the Indies and Spain. The voyage bet ween Manila and the Mexi- can coast occupied SIX months, and on arriving there the rich freightaRe was transported over land by 6 thousand donkeys, and such portion as wss not cold ln the city of Mexico was sent to Vera Cruz and there re-shIpped for Spain. History tells us that the cargo of single gslleon frequently reached the value of two million dollars; and as but one ship arrived in a year, its advent wss snxiously looked for by every class of people as well as by merchants and marines. IL brought calico snd muslins, silks. crape, jewels and spices, and car ried back gold. silver, cocoa, and some times a few Monks and Hidslgoes as passengers. Every ybody remembers the chnrming picture of those golden days given by Bret Harte ID hIs Host GslleOn:
 In sixteen hundred and fOrty-One
 The regular yearly calleon.
 Laden with OdorOus gum and spice.
 India cotton and India rice.
 And the richest silks of far Cathay
 Was due at Acapulco bay.